Hi everyone,
My mum was diagnosed earlier this year with early onset. With the benefit of hindsight, she probably has been showing signs of the illness for at least 2 years, maybe longer.
One of the ways that the illness is currently affecting her is in her willingness to interact and the pleasure got from interacting with her grandchildren (I have two children under the age of five). As you can imagine, given their age, they are boisterous, noisy, excitable and all the things that young ones are. They are not badly behaved, just normal kids. We live not far away, and see my parents quite often (my dad does a school/nursery pick up and drop off a couple of times a week).
I (and my dad) are finding her reaction to the kids pretty hard to deal with. At best she tolerates them, at worst she bristles with irritation at them interrupting her day, and huffs and puffs around them. This is an awful thing to write, but she even seems to resent the attention they get. This is so at odds with the way she was before the illness took hold, and I cry a good few tears for my kids not knowing my mum as she was. I've had a look at the factsheet about explaining alzheimers to children, but it seems to be geared towards kids that are older and understand. I want to know if anyone is having similar challenges. How do you explain to little children? On occasion the older child has said "nanny doesn't like me" and I've tried to explain that she loves them both, but if they can't see it, it's pretty hard to comprehend.
As it seems so irritating for her to have them around, should we be limiting the time mum spends with them?? Are we making life worse for her by bringing kids into her environment?? If we made more effort to see her more often would that make it better??
My dad says it's the kids that keep him going and keep him sane!! He needs his grandchildren time.
I suppose the obvious answer is to give dad time with the kids and take mum out whilst they are there. But I'm conscious that in the short term their perception of mum and her tolerance of them won't get any better if this is all that we do.
Is it likely that this is a phase that she will come out of? Can her view of them improve?? I can't talk to mum about it as she denies that there is anything wrong with her.
My mum before illness was kind, caring, loving, giving, funny, fun, sensitive, soft, fluffy - a lovely person to be around. We catch glimpses of old mum every once in a while and grab hold of them with both hands when we find them.
Sorry - so many questions but hope this strikes a chord with someone.
Thanks for reading.
My mum was diagnosed earlier this year with early onset. With the benefit of hindsight, she probably has been showing signs of the illness for at least 2 years, maybe longer.
One of the ways that the illness is currently affecting her is in her willingness to interact and the pleasure got from interacting with her grandchildren (I have two children under the age of five). As you can imagine, given their age, they are boisterous, noisy, excitable and all the things that young ones are. They are not badly behaved, just normal kids. We live not far away, and see my parents quite often (my dad does a school/nursery pick up and drop off a couple of times a week).
I (and my dad) are finding her reaction to the kids pretty hard to deal with. At best she tolerates them, at worst she bristles with irritation at them interrupting her day, and huffs and puffs around them. This is an awful thing to write, but she even seems to resent the attention they get. This is so at odds with the way she was before the illness took hold, and I cry a good few tears for my kids not knowing my mum as she was. I've had a look at the factsheet about explaining alzheimers to children, but it seems to be geared towards kids that are older and understand. I want to know if anyone is having similar challenges. How do you explain to little children? On occasion the older child has said "nanny doesn't like me" and I've tried to explain that she loves them both, but if they can't see it, it's pretty hard to comprehend.
As it seems so irritating for her to have them around, should we be limiting the time mum spends with them?? Are we making life worse for her by bringing kids into her environment?? If we made more effort to see her more often would that make it better??
My dad says it's the kids that keep him going and keep him sane!! He needs his grandchildren time.
I suppose the obvious answer is to give dad time with the kids and take mum out whilst they are there. But I'm conscious that in the short term their perception of mum and her tolerance of them won't get any better if this is all that we do.
Is it likely that this is a phase that she will come out of? Can her view of them improve?? I can't talk to mum about it as she denies that there is anything wrong with her.
My mum before illness was kind, caring, loving, giving, funny, fun, sensitive, soft, fluffy - a lovely person to be around. We catch glimpses of old mum every once in a while and grab hold of them with both hands when we find them.
Sorry - so many questions but hope this strikes a chord with someone.
Thanks for reading.